1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to automotive vehicle wheels, and more specifically to wheel covers for such wheels and mechanisms for mounting such wheel covers on the wheels.
2. Prior Art
In mounting wheel covers to automotive vehicles wheels, a wide variety of fastening mechanisms are used. Most involve the use of a fastening element, such as a clip, carried adjacent the outer periphery of the wheel cover which is mechanically engaged with a portion of the automotive vehicle wheel adjacent its outer periphery. Another mounting technique commonly used with plastic wheel covers is the fixing of the plastic wheel cover to the vehicle wheel through the use of threaded fasteners positioned proximate the hub of the wheel. In utilizing the latter mounting method, outer peripheral portions of the wheel cover are not directly mechanically attached to the wheel as in the former mounting scheme. It is, nevertheless, a goal of wheel cover mounting designer to maintain a consistent lateral gap between the inner lateral surface of the wheel cover and the outer lateral surface of the wheel. In many plastic wheel covers, standoff ribs are provided, projecting laterally inwardly from the lateral inside surface of the wheel cover to engage the wheel. U.S. Pat. No. 4,826,253 is exemplary of such designs. In the known standoff ribs, however, the standoff ribs terminate in a flat surface. Since the standoff ribs are arrayed in circumferentially spaced relationship on the inside face of the wheel cover, it has been found that realistic manufacturing tolerances prevent assuring that each of the flat surfaces of the standoff rib can be maintained coplanar with laterally outer surfaces of the wheel against which they are intended to abut.